MovieChat Forums > Computer Chess (2013) Discussion > Room 217

Room 217

posted 10 years ago by musicbymartin
3 replies | jump to latest

The Noog programmers run a programme to predict which room Mr Papageorge will end up in, and it selects room 217. "That's a maths joke" somone says.

Can anyone help me understand the joke?

[–] lewisherschell 10 years ago

I'm not sure of the maths joke, but I thought it was a nod to THE SHINING: in Stephen King's novel, the cursed room of the Overlook Hotel was room 217.

Of course, in his film adaptation Kubrick changed this to room 237.

'What does it matter what you say about people?'
Touch of Evil (Orson Welles, 1958).

[–] cormac_zoso 10 years ago

exactly what came to my mind as well seeing Room 217, a very evil room in King's "Shining"

a side note would be that when King got his hardback copy of "The Shining" the first appearance of Room 217 was on page 217 ... he said in an interview it was one of the few times he was truly spooked by his writing ... nice to know he can be freaked a bit ;) lol

take care,
cormac

"One star in the sky
so I named it Otis Redding"
-- John Hiatt

[–] Aidanhistory 8 years ago

The point is, I think, that there is no joke. Or if there is, the audience will never know why or how.

The movie is all about how the programmers believe themselves to be masters of their own product, but in the end they are exactly products of a determinism –– lost in a loop of their own beings. With that in mind, it makes sense that the joke here is that there is no joke. These people are so lost in the abstract mathematical world, that mere numbers can constitute a whole joke.